A helper is worth it when the extra sales they make possible leave more contribution margin than you pay them. Divide the helper's daily cost (wage, travel, any meal) by the contribution margin of one sale: that is how many extra sales you need to cover them. Then count, during your rush, how many people give up on the queue and how many more you could serve with two people. If the extra sales beat the break-even, the helper pays; if not, not yet.
What a helper costs
The daily cost is more than the wage:
- The agreed hourly or daily pay
- Travel, if you cover it
- A meal or drink, if you give one
- Apron, hat or uniform, spread over time
Add it up and you have the daily figure the extra sales must cover. Before anyone starts, check your local employment rules or ask an accountant what you owe as an employer, even for a few hours a week.
Your own pay does not belong here. It is already part of the stall's costs, helper or not; the guide on how to cost your own labour explains how to value it.
What a helper brings in
A helper does not create customers. What they do is let you serve the ones who already turn up and currently walk away. The money comes from three places:
- Fewer people giving up on the queue. This matters most, and you can count it.
- More sales per hour at the rush. If you pull shots and they take orders, payment and steam milk, you serve more people.
- Opening longer or trading at a second spot, if tiredness held you back before.
Some benefits do not show up in dollars but still count: you are not handling money between drinks, you can take a break without closing, and you finish the day less wrecked.
Count the walkaways
For two or three weeks, during your rush, tally every person who comes up, looks at the line and leaves without buying. Keep separate counts by day of the week.
Also measure how many sales you can make per hour on your own at your best, and estimate how many you would make with someone taking orders and payment. The difference is your extra capacity. The extra sales you can actually get are the smaller of the two numbers: walkaways or extra capacity.
The helper's break-even
extra sales needed = helper's daily cost ÷ contribution margin per sale
It is the same logic as your daily break-even for the stall, applied to one cost. For a quick answer, the break-even calculator gives you the units per day.
Worked example: a coffee cart
You run a coffee cart near a train station. Your average drink is $4.50 and costs you $1.10 in coffee, milk, cup, lid and sleeve. Contribution margin: 4.50 − 1.10 = $3.40 per drink.
The helper. Only for the morning rush, 7 to 10am: 3 hours × $16 = $48 a morning.
Break-even: 48 ÷ 3.40 = 14.1. You need 15 extra drinks a morning to cover the helper.
Your capacity. Alone, taking orders, payment and making drinks, you manage 30 drinks an hour at the rush. With someone on orders, payment and milk, you would manage 45. Over three hours that is 90 alone and 135 with help: 45 drinks of extra capacity, more than enough for any walkaway count below.
The walkaways. Your average count per morning over the last three weeks, during the rush:
| Day | Average walkaways | Extra margin (× $3.40) | Minus helper ($48) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 9 | $30.60 | −$17.40 |
| Tuesday | 14 | $47.60 | −$0.40 |
| Wednesday | 17 | $57.80 | +$9.80 |
| Thursday | 20 | $68.00 | +$20.00 |
| Friday | 23 | $78.20 | +$30.20 |
The result: the helper pays from Wednesday to Friday, leaving you 9.80 + 20.00 + 30.20 = $60.00 a week. Monday loses $17.40 and Tuesday is a wash. Across four weeks, three mornings a week, that is about $240.
A warning about the count. Not every walkaway was a lost sale; some come back later or buy at the next stop. If only two in three would really have bought, Wednesday gives about 11 extra drinks (11 × 3.40 = $37.40, less than $48), Thursday about 13 ($44.20, still short) and Friday about 15 ($51.00, just covering it). With numbers like that, start with Fridays and test the other days against your real sales.
Test before you commit
Hire by the morning, not by the month, while you measure. After four or five Fridays with a helper, compare drinks sold with Fridays alone. If the increase is under 15, the queue was not as expensive as it looked. The guide on when to hire your first helper covers the next step, when help is needed every day, and the street food and market stall guide puts this together with the rest of the stall's numbers.
Do it with the calculator
In the food cost calculator, enter your drink recipes to get the loaded cost of each; with that and your price you get the margin per drink, and from it the extra drinks a helper has to bring in each morning.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know how many sales the queue is costing me?
Count them. During the rush, tally every person who looks at the queue and leaves without buying. Do it for several days of each type before deciding.
What if a helper only pays on some days?
That is the usual result. Bring someone in on the days the numbers come out positive and work alone on the rest. A helper every day only makes sense when almost every day pays.
What should I check before taking someone on?
Your obligations when you employ someone, even for a few hours a week. Check your local employment rules or ask an accountant before they start.
Do I count my own pay in this calculation?
Your own pay belongs in the stall's costs whether or not you have a helper. Here you only compare what the helper costs with what the helper brings in.